Background Information on Burundi: No Protection from Rape in War and Peace

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Following the assassination of the first democratically elected Hutu president of Burundi in 1993, violence erupted between the Tutsi-dominated army and armed Hutu rebel groups. An estimated 300,000 people were killed in the armed conflict between 1993 and 2003. During this period, women suffered disproportionately; government soldiers and members of armed groups committed rapes and sexual violence as a means of humiliating women and their communities and instilling fear into the general population.

Impunity for rape during the conflict combined with a patriarchal society, which tends to discriminate against women, has contributed to a situation in which sexual crimes continue to go unpunished. The most commonly reported form of sexual violence in Burundi is rape; women are raped by armed combatants, members of the Burundian armed forces, as well as family members, and members of their community. Between 2004 and 2006, an average of 1,346 women a year reported cases of rape to Medecins san Frontieres. In 2006, the UN reported that 60 percent of recorded rapes were committed against minors.

Because rape victims are ostracized by their communities, many women remain silent and do not press charges. Even in cases where victims do come forward, local and state authorities regularly fail to investigate the charges. Both law enforcement officials and judicial authorities often blame the victim and fail to take allegations of rape seriously. Furthermore, the state has failed to eliminate the practice of "amicable settlements," in which rape victims are sometimes forced to marry the perpetrator. Victims of sexual violence have few places to turn for medical and psychosocial services. The ten year armed conflict further eroded women's and girls' access to health and education, leaving them with little recourse in the event of rape.

Rape is a violation of a woman's right to physical and mental integrity, and often her right to life itself. Under international human rights law, states have an obligation to respect, protect and fulfill the human rights of women, and those that fail to do so will be held accountable.

Amnesty International published a report on Oct. 9, 2007, Burundi: No protection from rape in war and peace. (For the full report, click here). In this report, AI expresses concern that Burundian authorities are failing to exercise due diligence to prevent and investigate rape and sexual violence, and to provide justice to the victims of rape. The state has also failed to provide medical assistance and counseling to victims of rape.

Sexual violence is a violation of women's human rights that can not be tolerated and Amnesty International urges the Burundian authorities to take action to address the problem of sexual violence against women.

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» Read the press release
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